Ken Shamrock: People want bare knuckles

Ken Shamrock recently appeared on Submission Radio and discussed his fight with Kimbo Slice at Bellator MMA 138 on 19 June 2015, as well as a bareknuckle boxing match with the King of the Gypsies James Quinn.

“When I heard that Kimbo had come back and was going to fight in Bellator, that was unfinished business for me,” said Shamrock. “I felt like there were some things that were said on his behalf and on some of the people that were surrounded the Elite XC at the time that really made me angry; and so I had always kept it in the back of my mind that if I ever had the opportunity to set that straight, I would do so.

Well you know when the thing happened, there were a lot of accusations being said about my cut and how it happened and saying that I didn’t want to fight him, [that] I was afraid of him; which is..come on, that’s ridiculous.

I made a living of fighting, and fighting a guy like Kimbo who has no experience whatsoever on the ground, I would spank him like a little child. So it was actually a blessing for him that I didn’t fight, because I don’t believe he would have fought again after that fight; but it was what it was, he said the things that he said.

“My father was in the hospital, he went into a coma and was going through some complications, and I believe that’s what bothered me the most, was when I was going through these difficult times in my life with someone that had really, you know, gave me an opportunity at life and that was a special person in my life. And then for me to be treated and talked to the way that I was during that time by him and his people, was very disrespectful to me. And that’s one of the reasons why in the back of my mind [I thought], if I ever had the opportunity to fix this unsettled business between me and him, I would jump all over it. And we have that opportunity now for me to be able to go in and to really set the record straight on who Kimbo Slice is and who Ken Shamrock is.

I’m going to get in the ring and I’m going to show people who I am and how my body has responded to training by going in the ring and just destroying Kimbo Slice.

Hhe may be 10 years younger, but I’ve kept myself in shape. I’ve treated my body very well over the years and I stayed in training, and I don’t put on a whole lot of extra weight. I’ve always stayed in shape and I’ve kept myself physically fit, and so when I step in the ring, you’re going to think he’s [Kimbo] the one that’s 10 years older.

Kimbo Slice is not a good striker. I don’t know where they’re getting it from. The guy did some boxing with some handpicked opponents that didn’t have chins and that couldn’t box a lick. The fact is that most of them had two left feet. So I don’t know where they’re getting this from. I don’t know how they’re saying this guy is that good. I’ve never thought that he’s been that good. I’ve never even – except for the very first time when I went in and I was going to fight him. I always thought, ‘okay, well obviously he’s winning some of these fights, even though they’re handpicking them. He’s still knocking guys out, so he’s gotta have something there’.

“When I watched Seth Petruzelli go in against him and do what he did against him, I was pretty much convinced that this guy shouldn’t be in MMA, and not even in boxing. The guy couldn’t even make it in boxing. I mean, they tried to handpick fights, they tried to push him, and I think people have finally realized that this thing, that this phenomenon from the website, the YouTube or whatever he came from, and they put him in the ring, and they handpicked fights for him, and blew him up and did a tremendous job. I’m not hacking on these guys. I thought it was a brilliant job for them to do what they did, and keep him around for as long as they did. That was tremendous. I mean that’s a feat that can’t be done again, I’ll almost bet it can’t be done again. So hats off to them for doing it, but that gig is up.

“I came out of [retirement] this time because the opportunity arose that I could get a fight that I thought could be entertaining to the fans, and I thought it definitely was entertaining to me, and one that I wanted and that it made sense. So I came out to get that fight. Anything other than that, I’m not interested in right now. Like I said, it’s gotta make sense to me, it’s gotta be a fight I want, it’s gotta be interesting to the fans and it’s gotta make sense; money-sense.

So Shamrock does not intend to become a Bellator MMA fighter. He does however have a bareknuckle boxing match scheduled later this year with Quinn.

They came to me with this other kid that they thought would be good. And this kid was probably a pretty tough kid, but like I said, the things that I look at are marketability, and does it make sense for me to fight, and can I market it? Is it marketable? And when I looked at the first opponent that came up, I just didn’t see a way to really have this fight, and it was a younger guy, and it just doesn’t make sense for me to want to fight somebody younger. I’m not going to get anything out of it. It’s hard to market somebody that doesn’t have a record yet. So I decided to pass on that.

“Well they came back to me with a guy that was a legend in bare knuckle fighting – James Quinn – and was undefeated, and I was like ‘okay, well this has got some legs to it’. He’s not 27 years old in his prime, he’s out of his prime like myself who is… we’re up in age, but we still love to fight and we can definitely put on a fight.

This fight is going to be on pay per view. Anybody’s going to be able to get it. The Bellator one is going to be on free TV, the bare knuckle boxing James Quinn is going to be on pay per view. We’re not hiding this fight. People wanna see it, and it’s not illegal, it’s not dangerous. We’re going to educate people on the gloves and also without the gloves. When we actually bring this fight out, we’re going to have people who have tested the results on this, and understand how the brain works, and how much damage taken over and over by putting a glove on the hand, and pounding you in the head with your brain bouncing off the walls at 120 times in a fight, as opposed to a bare knuckle fight, where you’re only going to hit him three, four, maybe at the most 20 times before you put him away.

It won’t be sanctioned. It will be just like when No Holds Barred first started out in MMA. It was an event and you go get licensed for one event, and then you put it on; and it’s not illegal to do that, it’s just not sanctioned by the governing body. But it doesn’t mean you can’t still do the event and it doesn’t mean you can’t still put it on TV.

There’s just going to be an event where there will be multiple fights on it, bare knuckle, and it’s going to be just like the regular events. We’re going to have a referee there, we’re going to have doctors there. It’s going to be [like] a regular event, it’s just not going to be sanctioned, because there are no rules to it yet.

I think if you look at the landscape of society, and people are always leaning towards the extreme sports. You know I mean? There was a big craze there with skateboarding, and motor-crossing, and mountain biking, and cross-fit training, and it just seems like everything is getting more extreme. People want more extreme, and bare knuckle boxing – if you look at No Holds Barred when it first started out, people didn’t come there because they wanted to see someone get choked out or getting leg locked, they came there because it was bare kuckle and that people can stand up and punch each other. That’s what drew everybody to the first part of No Holds Barred.

“Then it turned into MMA, and yet still people were watching it because it’s little gloves on it; people stand up, punching each other. But the big draw in the beginning was bare knuckle. And people kept saying ‘stand ’em up. Fight like a man. Stand ’em up. Fight like a man’, and I remember this very clearly. They always want you to stand up and fight, and so we’re going to give it to them. We’re going to cut through the chase, we’re going to take the gloves off, we’re going to give them three rounds of five minutes each, of straight bare knuckle.”

I think that James wants to be as ugly as possibly. He wants to clinch, wants to tie up, wants to punch, and he wants it to be dirty; and that’s how he’s going to have to win the fight. I want it be clean, I want it to have some spacing, I want to be clinching, but same time clinching and I want to be the one in control, and I want to be the one getting off on the punches, and he just wants to make it real dirty and really unorthodox, because that’s how he’s going to want to win the fight, and I gotta make sure that it doesn’t go that way. I gotta make sure that I control the clinch and that I control the footwork and the spacing.

As far I know right now, I know it’s going to be the first part of September, but again who knows? There’s no date that’s been put down on paper yet, but that’s what I’ve been told.

Shamrock is currently training in his motor home for this camp.

“I think it pretty much closes everything in,” he said. “There’s no distractions. I go from my training in my motor home, I watch film. It really takes away a lot of distractions, and I can basically just focus on my training, and my eating, and my supplements.”